RIDICULUSMUS

Since meeting at London's Poor School in 1992, Ridiculismus duo Jon Haynes and David Woods have created and presented a substantial body of work in the UK and throughout the world. the work has always been the expression of their artistic urges at the time rather than being the pursuit of any particular agendA. Though individual pieces often offer particular provocations or philosophies. their working method is about creating the nothingness where expression can take place. Ridiculismus have won awards from Time Out, Total Theatre, Adelaide Festival, the Herald Angel and have twice been nominated for the Melbourne Comedy Festival Barry Award.

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below is a list of Ridiculusmus's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

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The Arseflop illustrated talk is an animated version of performance methods and clips from various shows.

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough

1st Produced:

Trinity College, Dublin
01 Jan 2001

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

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We asked four leading contemporary playwrights to write a 10 minute play in response to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. A bunch of desperate theatre types have apparently been contracted by Mohamed Al Fayed to appear in a play that reconstructs the last days of Princess Diana. We witness the rehearsal process that is supposedly leading up to the only performance: a presentation to the High Court as evidence of a conspiracy.

Notes:

written by Ramin Gray, April de Angelis, Anthony Neilson, Juan Mayorga, David Woodand Jon Haynes.

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Recreations and new sketches from the original dadaists Ball, Zara, Schwitters etc.http://www.ridiculusmus.com/

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough

1st Produced:

-
1998

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

To Buy This Play:

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Mediterranean roasted vegetables. Finnish Folk and Margaret Drabble. Adolf Hitler and the knitted cover for a toilet roll. An audience split in two experiencing auditory hallucinations. The new work from Ridiculusmus is inspired by a treatment method for psychosis that has virtually eradicated schizophrenia from Western Lapland. It conjures up a comic nightmare of delusion while offering a hopeful world of polyphonic uncertainty, a world where dialogue can transform your life.

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough

1st Produced:

Sick! Festival At The Basement, Brighton
05 Mar 2014

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

To Buy This Play:

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Welcome to the world of war veteran Zach. As the last man standing, he has retreated into a tiny dugout under a barrage of hostile fire. His enemies are cunning, using every trick in the book to mess with his mind. Even the landscape is weird& it's a cardboard box, in Zach's kitchen. His wife whispers, kindly, that it's safe to come out. But is it a trap? For if the real enemy is Zach then who will win if he loses? Informed by the latest scientific research into the use of MDMA to treat Post Traumatic Stress,Give Me Your Love uses wit, warmth and black comedy to explore the healing potential of altered states of consciousness.

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough. Give Me Your Love is the second instalment of Ridiculusmuss three-pronged investigation into innovative approaches to mental health. Informed by the latest scientific research, it explores the healing potential in altered states of consciousness.

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Originally 'scratched' at London International Mime Festival in 2004 and eternally a work in progress. It is something in the nature of a hoax, a parody of pretentious concept performance with glossy production values but no content. Already offending the right sort of people - it is, in fact, a serious look at the mechanics of comedy and infers the amalgamated theories of humour and laughter of pretty much everyone from Freud to Scruton.http://www.ridiculusmus.com/

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough

1st Produced:

Leeds: Metropolitan University
06 Oct 2005

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

To Buy This Play:

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In 2003, garnered with awards and heralded in some quarters as the NEXT BIG THING (or one of them) we felt the constricting pressure of HAVING TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING. This anxiety formed the germ of Ideas Men. It was also fuelled by the tears of our student placement (a post-breakdown ex-computer man from Holland) who admitted that he had 'no ideas'. the inspiration was there and the challenge grew. What have we done to ourselves? We are pushed around and prodded and packaged. Everyone, it seems, wants the idea, the concept, the format. they want it simple, they want it explained and they want it now. How do you do it? What's it all about? In our age of post-industrial multinational concept companies creativity has become the new manufacturing industry. Ideas are made to order by office workers, recycled and packaged in ever more glossy new covers. Books on creativity fill the commuter newsagent stalls, magazine articles ask where ideas come from as if it's some sort of unattainable ability on the verge of extinction. the play is about two 'ideas men' who are under pressure to come up with a new idea - the next big thing - dare to plunge into the unknown zone, dare to find a new idea, not a repackaged glossy one, and dare to fail. they use doodles, roleplay, motivational speakers, soap operas, corporate jokes, leggo, food, sex, games of chase on their desk chairs, drink, pen sniffing, affirmations, imaginary outdoor walks, sentimental slush, anything . . .. to come up with something. they doublecross each other, double bluff, blame each other, blame themselves, blame their partners, console themselves with prawn baps and cream buns and finally collapse in an exhausted heap by mid morning. there may be nothing underneath. We may be unearthing a meta-theatrical monstrosity, a framing of our own tappings into creativity in an increasingly incestuous Arts world of self-confessed magpies and plagiarists, we steal and plunder ourselves. We don't know what will happen. We only know that it will be mentally dangerous.http://www.ridiculusmus.com/

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough. Part of Arches Festival Of New Scottish theatre - 2003. Ideas Men won (with the Barbican) A Peter Brook Open Space Award 2003

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deconstruction of Oscar Wilde. Seriously funny and deadly serious. Ridiculusmus are back with a new version of Wilde's classic high-society comedy. David Woods and Jon Haynes don't know exactly what the show will be. They have copies of the text (which, helpfully, Jon memorised at twelve years old); they know there will be no great dames of the British theatre, no plush velvet seats and proscenium arches. They have decided that they will play all the parts in the show themselves (although there have been arguments about who gets to say the immortal line 'a handbag?'). The rest will be coming together. Only one thing is guaranteed - you will never have seen an Importance like this before.

Notes:

Adapted by Jon Hough And David Woods from play by Oscar Wilde

1st Produced:

Trinity Theatre And Arts Centre, Tunbridge Wells
03 Jun 2005

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

To Buy This Play:

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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About oxygen and the collapse of Jon's lunghttp://www.ridiculusmus.com/

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough

1st Produced:

-
2001

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

To Buy This Play:

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

In our age of post-industrial multinational concept companies, creativity has become the new manufacturing industry. Ideas are made to order by office workers, recycled and packaged in ever glossy new covers. Everyone wants the idea, the concept, the format. They want it simple and they want it now. Mike Mullet and Liam Brady plunge in to the unknown zone. They use doodles, role-play, motivational speakers, soap operas, corporate jokes, lego, food, sex, games of chase on their desk chairs, drink, pen sniffing, affirmations, imaginary outdoor walks, sentimental slush, anything. . .to come up with something. They doublecross each other, double bluff, blame each other, blame themselves, blame their partners, console themselves with prawn baps and cream buns and finally collapse in an exhausted heap by mid morning.

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough

1st Produced:

Eastleigh: The Point
22 Nov 2003

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

To Buy This Play:

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Ridiculusmus' new piece is about an office. Two ideas men, with absolutely no ideas, earn their living by logging into the network. The ideas men scratched the surface at the London International Mime Festival 2002.

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Adaptation of the two Gogol stories intertwinedhttp://www.ridiculusmus.com/

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough

1st Produced:

-
1995

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

To Buy This Play:

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Paranoid Household is the distillation of years spent in shared accommodation, with all it's attendant complications and irritations. It's about the impossible quest for privacy. . .a tenant stands in the kitchen, biting into an enormous sandwich, while at the same time washing up the plate and knife that he's using, while making a cup of coffee, while keeping an eye on the door. We are creating and performing this scratch performance in a London house. The performance will be about 30 minutes long and only around fifteen people will be able to see it at one time. The venue is yet to be confirmed.

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Scratch Performance. It's going to be something, they're just not sure what yet. Masters of comic invention, the award-winning Ridiculusmus return to BAC's OctoberFest to try out some new material. They don't know what it will be yet. But it will be something. Which is better than nothing.

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Site specific performance at the Socialist era book warehouse for forbidden books in Leipzig. Part of Euroscene festival directed by Rene Reinhardthttp://www.ridiculusmus.com/

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough

1st Produced:

-
2000

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

To Buy This Play:

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Adaptation of the novel with 20s and 30s banjulele songshttp://www.ridiculusmus.com/

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough

1st Produced:

-
1992

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

To Buy This Play:

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Football systems, changing room banter and a couple of mops solve the big questions of life - immortality, happiness and why England always lose, in a new play tackling the beautiful game. After several years of embedded research in the football darklands, a failed attempt to create a UK football team for the 2012 games and pathetic efforts at understanding the offside rule, Ridiculusmus is patching up its metatarsals to examine the melting pot of what it means to be British today.

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A secret, a spa in Bangkok and two naked Germans. . .In a world where anything can be indulged in and everything is permissible, Martin, a disturbed ex-pat, offers to share his tales of misfortune with Stefan, a jaded hack writer on a junket. Together they engage in an intricate exchange of complicated stories, weaving through movies, sex, celebrity and genocide in the hope that they will transform themselves, and, possibly the world.

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The World Mouse Plague is a new play in development by Ridiculusmus. A simple allegory of "the final solution" featuring a man and mice, it illustrates the unyielding stratification by class, race, sexuality and employment status that is still very much part of our life today. Two characters, a man and a mouse, battle for supremacy of a domestic environment. The man, at first naively unaware, becomes increasingly anxious about his inability to control the invasion. The mouse, initially confident in his territorial progression and securing of food, has to devise more and more sophisticated ways to stay alive. As their awareness of each other reaches towards a bloody climax they tell of their aspirations in a sequence of interlocking monologues. Using only verbatim texts drawn from historical and contemporary sources Ridiculusmus reference the descent of man from cohabiting hunter-gatherer to genocidal maniac. The title is taken from the anti-Semitic propaganda magazine "Der Sturmer". The source texts are Der Sturmer, Hutu hate propaganda from the Rwandan genocide, contemporary pest control information, natural history encyclopaedias, contemporary and historical accounts of emigration and immigration, current government immigration policies and the statements of aspirant political parties on asylum seeking and economic migration.

Notes:

written by David Woods And Jon Hough

1st Produced:

-

Organisations:

Ridiculusmus

1st Published:

- -

Music:

-

To Buy This Play:

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies